


Out Of The Game (And Into Your Heart)

by Bittyb0t



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half-Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware - Fandom
Genre: Actually A Game, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Nonbinary Benrey, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, They/Themrey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:00:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25798558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bittyb0t/pseuds/Bittyb0t
Summary: When a certain VR game's AI enters Gordon Freeman's world, it's up to him to help them learn what it is to be a real person and maybe, just maybe, something more.
Relationships: Benrey/Gordon Freeman
Comments: 4
Kudos: 57





	1. CHAPTER ONE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> post-game dream and work

_ The game was over, it was finally over. _ Gordon thought as he pulled off his headset, feeling disoriented. His hair was mussed up, his brow was coated with sweat, his limbs trembled with overuse, but he did it. He finished the game. 

Tears streaked his flushed cheeks from that emotional final message and he wiped them away, gradually composing himself as he adjusted back into the real world. 

Despite his feelings of victoriousness, of accomplishment, and slight vertigo, he now felt...lost. Like he had lost his friends. Looking around his apartment’s darkened bedroom, he only felt empty. It was strange to feel so out of place in his own room. 

“This  _ is _ my room, right?  _ Right? _ ” He asked aloud, immediately feeling silly for his lapse in sensing reality.

He quickly shook his head, trying to clear these feelings from his mind as he looked around more in an attempt to familiarize himself again. 

_ Of course it was his room! _ He only felt the loss of the game. It was perfectly normal to feel like this after completing a game, especially a long one. Not to mention that he had been spending more time in the virtual reality world than his own as of late.

At least, that’s what Gordon told himself as he reluctantly set the headset down and shut off his computer. He shifted away from his desk and kind of flopped down onto his mattress. He still felt uneasy by his brief perception, as if the game were the real world and this world was false.

It was a strange, downright bizarre game, though. He really felt like he was there, like the NPCs were actually alive, like his actions were genuine. Dare he think that the AI might even be self-aware. 

Maybe it was just a product of his mind, afterall VR games were becoming very realistic and immersive at an astounding rate. It made him wonder how he got such a game, even with its sheer absurdity, at the discount he did. 

_ How did they program the characters to be so...unique and life-like? _ He rolled over, shifting among his bedsheets.  _ Why was it so full of spontaneous chaos instead of a linear, comprehensive story? _ He pondered and reflected upon the insane experience and the rollercoaster of feelings it brought him, although tiredly until…

Gordon dreamt he was in a void of sorts. 

Everything around him was dark, cloudy and muddled, and a deep feeling of sorrow overcame him as he started to trudge through what he would consider mist. It was more like light, stringy clouds carpeting the ground, swirling slowly in the air, surrounding him. 

With a sudden surge of alarm, Gordon realized that the clouds had started to draw closer and further condense into vague shapes around him, but without touching him. It was like they were trying to form into  _ something _ , Gordon didn’t know what. 

He found himself stuck in his stationary position, head turning left, right, then left again. As he watched the clouds darken and visually take on an almost sharp texture, when they had previously been soft, barely anything, he felt the need to leave with increasing urgency. 

The clouds still refused to touch him, just avoiding him as he shifted to look for an exit. He needed to leave,  _ now _ . The feeling of sorrow continued to pervade his senses and it made him feel anxious to the point where he started to physically shake. 

A piercing, almost mechanical screech filled his ears, startling him to jerk and look up-

Gordon nearly lept out of his bed, gasping and clutching at his chest as he looked for the source of the sound, the danger, anything. The first thing he laid his eyes upon was his computer, the monitor on and displaying a solid blue screen. He could have sworn he turned it off last night!    
  
His alarm clock sat on his nightstand, chiming along for a prolonged moment until Gordon aggressively seized it from its place with a desire to end that noise at all costs. 

With the sound finally silenced, Gordon regretfully saw that it was now 7 AM. He definitely needed to shower, as he was coated from head to toe with sweat, eat something, and book it to his job. He could worry about this dream and what it might mean later. 

Shoving his messy sheets aside, he stood up and adjusted his glasses. He shut down his computer again without another thought before he quickly grabbed some clothes from his closet, although they were slightly wrinkled, and headed for the bathroom.

As soon as he saw himself in the mirror, he thought he looked like shit. Well, he had been basically living in a headset for the past week or so and his stubble had plenty of time to grow in without regular grooming. Below his eyes sat dark circles, too. Still, he hoped the steamy water would at least bring some life back into his tired face. 

Tossing his clothes onto the floor, he turned on the faucet and waited for the water to warm up. He started to think about the game again, and that dream! He never had a dream that startled him like that before… It felt like it had Something to do with the game, but he couldn’t connect the dots yet. All he had was some creeping, although familiar feeling.

He suddenly realized his right hand felt like it was burning and quickly drew it back from underneath the stream of water with a hiss.  _ What the hell? _ He felt the water with his other hand, only to feel that the water was only just barely warm. He blinked, staring at his hands for a moment before putting his right hand back underneath the water. It just felt like regular water this time. 

He wrote it off as faulty water heating and stepped into the stream directly, eager to cleanse himself from his gaming marathon. A marathon wasn’t far from it, really!

Once he finished his shower and clothed himself as best as he cared to, he re-entered his room to retrieve his phone, only to be met with his computer’s gleaming screen. It was on,  _ again _ . This time he knew it wasn’t because he failed to shut it off properly.

He resolved to just leave it be for now and hoped it wasn’t a hardware issue. It was probably just some maintenance task that he forgot he scheduled. He’d investigate later tonight after work.

Grabbing his phone, he went into the kitchen and opened his fridge to see what he had.  _ Hm, poptart it is… _ He turned away after a moment of blank staring, resolving to cook breakfast another day. He snatched a rectangular tin foil packet from the poptart box in the cupboard, his work bag, and his car keys from the counter before going out the front door to his vehicle. 

He moved to this neighborhood because it was close to his workplace, White Abyss, while also being within a good driving distance so that he could regularly pick up his son, Joshua, from his ex-wife, Ava. Rent wasn’t too bad either, which was always a plus.

He arrived at the building complex just in time, slightly surprised from his light daydreaming once he pulled up. He brushed off the pastry crumbs from his button-up before gathering his items from the front passenger seat and heading inside.

As soon as he had clocked in and settled at his office desk, his work phone chimed obnoxiously to alert him that someone was urgently requesting his technical assistance. He slumped tiredly in his chair and ran his hands over his face with a sigh.

Just another day at White Abyss.


	2. CHAPTER TWO

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> enter benry

Gordon unlocked his front door, feeling exhausted from his long day at work as he trudged inside. He was still bitter about being made to stay so late, but he always could use the money. It’s not like he could say no, unless he wanted to face potential termination. 

He dropped his bag at the door and tossed his keys up onto the counter again. He was starving. He didn’t pack a lunch with him and spent his mandatory break dozing at his desk. Before anything else, he immediately dove for the instant macaroni and cheese bowls he had bought a while ago. He followed the instructions quickly and sat back against the counter as he waited for it to cook, too hungry to even think about having the patience to prepare an actual meal.

With a loud beep from the microwave, the macaroni was done and he snatched the small, heated bowl from inside without any hesitation. He stirred in the powdered cheddar flavoring with a spoon as he headed to his bedroom. He suddenly stopped at his living room, hearing voices. Urgently looking around as he rushed in, he noticed that the television was left on some black and white channel. He just brushed it off for the moment despite the momentary spook, thinking he might have left it on the other day. He turned the TV off and resumed his walk to his room, mac and cheese in hand. 

He took cautious bites, as the pasta was still quite hot, as he flicked on the light and sat down in front of his computer. Upon moving his mouse, he realized that the screen was frozen on that bright, blue tone. 

Swearing, he attempted to reboot the computer and prayed that it was not the dreaded Blue Screen of Death. He could not afford a replacement gaming PC right now.

Thankfully, the computer started up as normal and brought him to his desktop. None of his files seemed out of place, either. He idly ate as he started to look through his program manager, still set on thinking that he had some program set to automatic maintenance. 

Gradually, his exhaustion from the workday started to gain upon him and his eyelids grew heavier and heavier as he stared at the screen. He barely knew he was starting to fall asleep as he clicked idly and eventually slumped forward, close to the screen.

Briefly, he dreamt. He was back in that clouded void from before, but this time, it felt different. 

The condensing shapes were newly charged with electricity, crackling and shifting vividly around him. He eventually realized that the clouds had started to form the large silhouette of a person. Fear coursed through his veins like ice, making him feel weak in the knees, which he was forced to drop to as the shadowy figure only continued to tower before him, growing as the clouds swirled around them and were absorbed.

Now the energy zipping by him felt angry, though it still felt predominantly deeply sad. He didn’t dwell on the feelings he felt by proxy, as the figure had ducked down and appeared to be reaching for him. He was paralyzed as a dark hand enveloped his entire body and squeezed.

He jolted awake, gasping, though he had knocked the remainder of his macaroni over onto the floor. Defeatedly rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses, he decided he was going to call it a night here.

Abruptly, there was a terrible sound from the CPU itself, and he glanced down to see that the fans had halted, as if they had caught on something. There was also a rattling, sort of buzzing sound. 

Right as he was going to pull it closer to see what was causing it, the screen fell black. He looked back up quickly, reaching out to frantically try the monitor’s buttons. Nothing worked, so he moved down to try the CPU’s on button to see that it was technically still on.

He took a moment to sit back and assess what he thought could be the potential problem(s). Faulty fan? The monitor overheating? Maybe a plug got pulled loose… As he ran over a mental list of issues he knew of, the display turned back on with a whine, but it was now displaying that eye-searing blue tone again.

He only frowned at it for a moment before the screen started to shimmer, mimicking the ripples of a pool of water. Was the monitor burning out now!? He squinted at the surface, leaning closer as he brought his right hand up to feel it. 

A grey, almost claw-like hand burst from the screen and grasped at his wrist before tugging his arm halfway inside of his monitor. He barely had any time to react before a static-like sensation enveloped his limb and it went completely numb. 

He started to writhe and stood up, pulling back with a swift jerk. As his arm broke free from the grasp, he fell over his computer chair and landed on his back with a shout. The impact winded him and the chair made his back ache, temporarily stilling him.

He could only watch in shock as the hand emerged again and grabbed a hold of his desk, starting to pull its body out from...somewhere inside his computer. His breath hitched as he gawked at the large shadow figure standing-no, towering-over him. After a few tense minutes of silent staring, the figure spoke:

“yo... why is there kraft macaroni all over the floor.” That voice, that enraging monotone voice that often made his brain feel like it was being rubbed with sandpaper. Gordon knew immediately who that voice belonged to.

“Benry?” Gordon scrambled to sit up, wincing and grabbing at his back. “H-How…” He began to ask when Benry suddenly laughed piercingly, startling him into silence.

“duh- who else would it be? scared little...little babyman.” They glanced back at the monitor they just pulled themself out of. “your screens too small. bit of a- bit of a tight fit. get a bigger one.” He mumbled, shifting awkwardly now that he had started to realize that he was out of the game. And in “Gordon Freeman’s” reality.

After a beat of staring down at the confused man at their feet, they averted their eyes and held out a hand towards him, offering to help him up. 

Gordon eyed the offered hand dubiously, no doubt noticing those sharply clawed fingers and the grey, almost inhuman skin color. He took a deep breath and accepted the help, Benry easily pulling him up to his feet. 

“Thanks, I guess.” Gordon was still absolutely boggled out of his mind as he looked at Benry, who was previously a video game character, but is now a real, living person. That grip was definitely real, that's for sure.

“miss me?” Benry sounded practically flirtatious, grinning at him but otherwise staying stock still. “lookin’ like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“No! I just- how are you even here? Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” Gordon couldn’t help as his voice rose, adrenaline from that scare still very much present in his body. He clenched his hands into fists at his sides to stop them from shaking.

“i- i was dead. but i got better. decided to come find you because it was boring in- in there.” They half-heartedly gestured to the computer behind them with their thumb. 

Gordon found himself sighing as he accepted that he just wasn’t going to understand this anytime soon. “Can you go back in?”

“huh?” Benry just blinked at him.

“Can you go back in.” Gordon gritted out through his teeth, gesturing at the computer exasperatedly.

“what? no, why would i wanna do that? i just got here, man. you gonna kick me- make me leave already?” Benry was practically looking at him with puppy dog eyes, begging to stay. Gordon was too tired to fight with them.

“Alright, fine, you can stay the night.” He couldn’t help but laugh a bit at Benry’s clear excitement on their face as they bounced on their heels. “But you can’t touch my shit, ok?” His voice grew serious. 

“uh-huh! whatever you say, bossman.” Benry nodded as they did the entire time Gordon was talking.

“Okay. You’re staying in the living room, because I have work tomorrow and I need to sleep.” He led them out of his bedroom into the living room, bringing him to the couch. “You can sleep here.”

“i don’t need to sleep.” Benry said but still proceeded to drop themself onto the cushions, jostling the entire couch.

“Yeah, well, pretend to? Or...don’t. I don’t care.” Gordon turned to the TV, grabbing the remote off the table and flipping it on for them. “You can use the TV or my Xbox, if you want, too. Just don’t break them.” He warned sternly.

“no PS4? lame taste...” Benry clicked his tongue and Gordon frowned down at him. “i’ll still play tho.” Benry was quick to add that last bit as Gordon had started to take the offered remote away from them, but he let them have it with a roll of his eyes.

Gordon left the room and Benry stared as he did so, feeling reluctant to be by theirself. They didn’t have to wait long as Gordon returned with a blanket, tossing it to them. 

“aw sweet.” Benry fumbled with the fabric, wrapping it around their body. Gordon doubted they would be cold with all that security gear on, but he was just trying to be nice. Well, as nice as one could be to a digital home invader. 

“Yeah, so… goodnight, I guess. Don’t rummage around while I’m sleeping.”

“i won’t.” Was all Benry said as they leaned back into the cushions, trying to get comfortable in this strange place. The gaming console had all their attention now.

As Gordon turned to leave, he heard a faint ‘’night’ from Benry. He hoped letting Benry stay wasn’t going to be a mess that came to bite him in the ass later.

He hoped so, it could be nice to have the company. Even if that company was from a video game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i rlly rlly wanted to see benry come out of gordon's computer so bad... had to write it

**Author's Note:**

> hello! i'm not sure abt continuing this but i decided to upload it anyway bc i hadn't seen anything exactly like it. if anyone is interested in seeing more, please leave a comment!
> 
> comments, kudos, and criticisms are appreciated!


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